Ad tax sets record in March

The city’s 3-cent advertising and promotion tax had the largest collection month in its history in March, according to the Hot Springs Advertising and Promotion Commission, which administers the tax.

Collections totaled

$673,913.79 in March, the highest amount collected since the inception of the tax in March

1965. The previous record of

$644,405 was set in March 2017. This year’s collections represent a 4.58-percent increase from March 2017.

“March is fast becoming one of our biggest months here in Hot Springs,” said Visit Hot Springs CEO Steve Arrison. “March is just an incredible month for us when you think about everything happening. We’ve got St. Patrick’s Day, the Rebel Stakes, spring break, the EAST Conference and state high school basketball tournament. We certainly anticipated it being a big month, but this year was incredible.”

Arrison said the numbers would have been higher, but one major hotel and several restaurants did not remit their taxes in a timely manner.

A cold, wet start to 2018 took a toll on the early part of the year, but March was a turning point for the city’s visitation, he said. Despite weather and other factors, Arrison said the first quarter was better than in previous years.

St. Patrick’s Day weekend proved to be an overwhelmingly positive weekend for visitation to Hot Springs with two days of events colliding with the start of the state’s spring break.

Excitement surrounding the First Ever 15th Annual World’s Shortest St. Patrick’s Day Parade paired with good weather for the Rebel Stakes at Oaklawn Park brought in record numbers of people and revenue. As the midpoint of the live race meet, the record-setting day helped catapult the race track into a strong finish with a total all-source handle of more than $16 mil for the Arkansas Derby on April 14.

“The weather was very good for March,” Arrison said. “February, we had a lot of rain and it was very flat. But things picked up in March and hopefully, that will launch us into summer.”

In May, the convention business slows briefly, he said, due to the number of area graduations taking place at the Hot Springs Convention Center. However, the summer months always make up for that.

“Life is good in Hot Springs,” he said. “July is usually our biggest month, but March is getting up there. July and March are usually neck and neck. If we can just get a couple other months to join them.”